MORRISON MONDAYS! — UPDATED 10/5/26: Bill “the Thrill” Morrison is traveling, so we’re reprinting this groovy one from October 2024. Right on! — Dan — By BILL MORRISON Starting in 1995 and for the following two decades, Bongo Comics threw an annual Halloween party that was open to the general public. Well, OK, I’m not talking about an actual party. The shindig I refer to was in the form of a comic book known as Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror (later, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror.) And though it wasn’t a party in the physical sense, it sure seemed like one to me. In the first issue, we established the tradition of inviting guest writers from the comic book industry to craft their own spooky Simpsons stories (in this case, Mike Allred, Jeff Smith, and James Robinson,) and the results were so much fun we continued to invite our favorite writers to the annual Treehouse party for the next few years. By Issue #4 we decided it might not be a horrible thing to mess with the “on model” visual style of the book and welcomed guest artists as well. As soon as we did this, our publisher, Matt Groening, told me that he loved seeing different cartoonists do their take on his characters. The only caveats were that the residents of Springfield had to retain their signature overbites and bulgy eyes. Otherwise the artists were free to exhibit their own styles. The potential guest list expanded, and so did the fun! So, we eagerly looked forward to inviting both writers and artists from our wish list of creators we wanted to work with each year, and I’m proud to say that in the history of Bongo’s Treehouse of Horror, not a single person ever turned us down. Some of the wonderful folks who partied with us in the Treehouse over the years were Sergio Aragonés, Scott Shaw!, Jill Thompson, Dan DeCarlo, Garth Ennis, Paul Dini, Gail Simone, Stan Sakai, Kyle Baker, Dan Brereton… it’s a long and illustrious list, and someday I’ll write an article that lists them all. But this article is about my favorite issue, 2005’s #11. More often than not, the artists and writers who agreed to do Treehouse stories were squeezing it in between regular assignments from other publishers, so by Issue #11 we knew...
MORRISON MONDAYS! By BILL MORRISON If you’re a fan of The Simpsons and there’s a Jack in the Box restaurant within driving distance, you’re undoubtedly aware of the promotion currently running with the fast food chain, known as the Munchie Meal of Horror. The promo generated a tsunami of excitement from Simpsons fans who took to social media to chronicle their trips to Jack in the Box, and show their unboxing videos of all the cool items that came with the meal. I was aware of the collab several months before fans knew anything about it, because I got to draw all the art for the promotion, and it was not an easy secret to keep. While working on the graphics for the meal box, burger wrappers, plastic cups, etc., I had a sense that Simpsons fans were going to go crazy over these items, but I had no idea just how much. And neither did Jack in the Box. Within a few weeks of launching the promotion, they sold out of the collectible cups and the company had to issue a letter to customers from their mascot, Jack, apologizing for the gaffe and offering a voucher that fans could redeem when the cups were available again. I’ve since heard that some of the restaurants have also run out of the meal boxes and other packaging items. With all the hoopla surrounding this Munchie Meal mania, I thought it would be fun to show some of the drawings that ended up on these cool collectibles. Consider this my Simpsons/Jack in the Box Munchie Meal Sketch Book… OF HORROR: — Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below! — MORE — My Dinner With WILL ELDER… and LITTLE ANNIE FANNY. Click here. — MMMMM, HOAGIES: Celebrate National EAT A HOAGIE DAY With HOMER SIMPSON. Click here. — Eisner winner BILL MORRISON has been working in comics and publishing since 1993 when he co-founded Bongo Entertainment with Matt Groening, Cindy Vance and Steve Vance. At Bongo, and later as Executive Editor of Mad Magazine, he parodied the comics images he loved as a kid every chance he got. Not much has changed. Bill is on Instagram (@atomicbattery) and Facebook (Bill Morrison/Atomic Battery Studios), and regularly takes commissions and sells published art through 4C...
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